Mid-semester progress reporting window is open in Starfish

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The spring 2022 Starfish mid-semester progress reporting window opened Monday, Feb. 21, and will close Wednesday, March 2, giving Penn State instructors the opportunity to raise flags or give kudos to students as feedback on their performance. 

Instructors will receive an email prompting them to complete progress report surveys. The surveys also can be accessed through Starfish by logging in and clicking the link for “Outstanding Progress Surveys.” 

For both instructors and academic advisers, progress reporting allows for smooth collaboration between people who would not normally work together and allows them to leverage each other’s expertise. 

“When instructors provide input on student performance through Starfish, it allows a broad range of offices to provide tailored support to students who most need help in advance of the late-drop deadline,” said David Smith, associate dean for advising and executive director of the Division of Undergraduate Studies at Penn State. “The collaboration that progress reporting initiates speaks directly to the culture of care that Penn State prides itself on.”  

Instructors benefit from academic advisers’ knowledge of broader academic requirements and their long-term relationships with students. Instead of contacting a student directly, raising a flag helps to activate a broad network of services, known as the Starfish Success Network. This collaborative network can make it easier to identify the root causes of a student’s struggles. Submitting a “kudo” for a student lets them know they are on the right track. 

Sudarshan Nelatury, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Penn State Behrend, said Starfish has allowed him to more easily forge a strong partnership with his students. 

“I believe that to be a good teacher, one needs to be active in offering feedback,” Nelatury said. “We should focus on the course objectives and offer guidance to students about their next steps in a friendly and gentle way.” 

But doing this manually and individually for every student and their context would be time consuming, Nelatury said.  

“This is the beauty of Starfish,” he said. “Things are a click away. I can select courses, students, contexts and give alerts, flags and kudos and set up appointments. I encourage all my colleagues to use this resource.” 

For academic advisers, working through Starfish can allow them to benefit from instructors’ specialized knowledge of what it takes to be successful in an academic domain and their real-time view into students’ lives. Advisers can combine flags raised by instructors with what they know about their advisees, such as their academic history, GPA and what was discussed in previous meetings. 

“When a student is struggling academically, timely intervention is important,” said Terri Mando, director of academic advising at Penn State Behrend’s Academic and Career Planning Center. “Faculty can raise a flag to help assigned advisers track students in need. If a student is performing on task, adding a kudo lets the student and adviser know that all is well. Starfish provides a very useful data point from the classroom perspective that an adviser may not have access to otherwise. This beacon can signal the just-in-time support that the student needed.” 

Starfish has a new function for academic advisers this semester: the ability to assign a flag to themselves after they reach out to a student. This allows academic advisers to keep track of their outreach and more easily manage flags for students on their rosters.  

Students are highly encouraged to act upon messages they receive in Starfish by contacting their instructors or academic advisers if they receive a flag or by reflecting on what has helped them succeed so far if they receive a kudo. Additionally, students should not assume their instructors have no concerns about their progress just because they did not receive any flags in Starfish. It is always helpful for students to track their own progress in a course by checking in with both instructors and academic advisers.  

Technical resources for instructors and academic advisers 

Instructors can find the answers to most questions on a new and updated FAQ section on progress reporting on the Starfish website.  

When an instructor submits a flag or kudo through Starfish, this feedback generates a message template that is sent to the student’s email. A flag also will generate a message to the student’s academic adviser and select members of a student’s personalized Starfish Success Network. See a video for instructors on how to complete a progress survey. 

Academic advisers can find detailed instructions on how to manage flags in this Knowledge Base article. Academic advisers also should see the FAQ section on clearing flags if they have further questions. 

Resources for students 

Students can learn more about Starfish by watching a video tutorial on using the student dashboard and viewing their Starfish Success Network. Students also can watch a video tutorial on how to make an appointment about the feedback they receive through Starfish, as well as appointments for other services related to their Success Network. 

The Division of Undergraduate Studies is part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.